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Full catalog/AIRS3SPM
AIRS3SPM·v7.0·dataset

Monthly atmosphere support data (Aqua AIRS, 1 deg)

Aqua/AIRS L3 Monthly Support Product (AIRS-only) 1 degree x 1 degree V7.0 at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 3 active
In plain English

What it measures. Monthly, gridded atmospheric 'support' data such as inputs and intermediate values behind the main AIRS atmosphere products. These are extra fields, some not fully checked for quality.

How it's made. Produced from the AIRS infrared sounder on the Aqua satellite, averaged into monthly 1-degree grid boxes where each box is the average of the measurements falling inside it.

How & where you'd use it. A behind-the-scenes input mostly for specialists; because some values come from failed retrievals and lack quality flags, it is used with care rather than as a finished product.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › AIR QUALITY › CARBON MONOXIDEATMOSPHERE › ALTITUDE › GEOPOTENTIAL HEIGHTATMOSPHERE › ALTITUDE › TROPOPAUSEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › CARBON AND HYDROCARBON COMPOUNDS › METHANEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › OXYGEN COMPOUNDS › ATMOSPHERIC OZONEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE › SURFACE PRESSUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › OUTGOING LONGWAVE RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATURE › AIR TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › UPPER AIR TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › HUMIDITYATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › TOTAL PRECIPITABLE WATERATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › WATER VAPORATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR PROFILESATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD MICROPHYSICS › CLOUD DROPLET CONCENTRATION/SIZE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2002-09-01 → ongoing
  • Measured byAqua (AIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) is a grating spectrometer (R = 1200) aboard the second Earth Observing System (EOS) polar-orbiting platform, EOS Aqua. In combination with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) and the Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB), AIRS constitutes an innovative atmospheric sounding group of visible, infrared, and microwave sensors. The L3 support products are similar to the L3 standard products but contain fields which are not fully validated, or are inputs or intermediary values. Because no quality control information is available for some of these fields, values from failed retrievals may be included. The value for each grid box is the sum of the values that fall within the 1x1 area divided by the number of points in the box.

Get the data

airs3spm_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="AIRS3SPM",
    version="7.0",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from GES_DISC
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.